It was the seventh day of the Tree month, one day after my date with
Shiro-san.
For some reason though, Shiro-san said "I don't care what number I am
too" just as we were about to part ways, and although her statement
bothers me, I'm sure that Shiro-san enjoyed our date.
And thus, with events happening in rapid succession, tomorrow, I'll be
heading to the royal palace with Lilia-san.
It seems to be about giving me an apology for the fact that my invitation
wasn't sent by mistake.
I don't really mind at all, but it seems that there are various things to
consider when it comes to the country's prestige and all sorts of stuff,
so they're going to make an apology in a public area.
[Miyama-san, you're really getting caught up in various things huh.]
[…Seriously.]
Unexpectedly running into her in the corridor, Kusunoki-san, who was
walking with me, told me with a sigh, while I just replied with a wry
smile on my face.
[Kusunoki-san, are you going to the magic school today?]
[Yes, I've learned various new stuff, so I'm having fun studying.]
[I see… Well, I'm sure Kusunoki-san will be fine if you just pull yourself
together, but you should still be careful, okay?]
[Yes. Thank you.]
When we were close to the foyer, I exchanged a few light words with
Kusunoki-san before seeing her off. I then headed to Lilia-san's room,
thinking I'd ask her about tomorrow.
Coming inside Lilia-san's room, she wasn't there, and when I asked one
of the servants about it, she said she was headed to the warehouse.
It's not that what I'm going to talk about is that urgent, but since it's
okay for me to go there, I decided to head there. I was also a bit curious
about the warehouse.
The warehouse is located just outside of the mansion, and I guess it's to
be expected from a duchy, as the room is very large and spacious inside.
I knocked once, just to be sure… but even when I knocked on the
warehouse's thick door, there was no answer, so I just opened the door
and went inside.
The brightly lit interior is filled with tall shelves lined up so that it
would be properly shined upon by the Illumination Magic Tools, and
they were quite a sight to behold.
Equipment like swords and armors, something that looks like a
carriage's wheel, I found all sorts of magic tools and other stuff around
as I curiously moved my gaze around while looking for Lilia-san.
No matter how large it was, it was small compared to the mansion, and
I was able to easily find Lilia-san.
Lilia-san was facing a shelf and moving her hands about, seemingly
looking for something rather than organizing it.
[Lilia-san, good morning.]
[Kaito-san? Good morning. Do you need something?]
[Ah, no, I just thought I'd ask you about tomorrow's schedule… Are you
looking for something?]
[Yes, I'm just looking for a letter from Elder Brother…]
[A letter?]
When Lilia-san sees me, she returns my greeting with a gentle smile.
And when I tilted my head when she said she was looking for a letter,
Lilia-san somehow has an amazed expression on her face when she
spoke.
[I'm still getting more than 20 letters a month from Elder Brother… And
all of them were just meaningless letters, but even though they're only
filled with his stupidity, they're still the King's letters… So I've been
telling the servants to throw them in the storeroom.]
[I- I see.]
[So, I was wondering if there might be something written about this
situation, so I thought I'd check it out for tomorrow… but I wonder
where they are? They're completely unnecessary items, so it's supposed
to be sitting around here with the items we're planning to discard
but…]
I've already thought of it for a while now, but Lilia-san really has no
mercy for her own brother. She even said it was completely
unnecessary, and by the way she just said it, it's as if she hasn't even
looked through his letters.
Well, how should I say this… I can clearly sense that she's really
troubled by her brother's behavior until now.
It's true that many of the items on the shelves around here look like
bulky trash, and they don't seem to be very organized.
And out of the corner of my eye, Lilia-san prepares a high foothold and
reaches out to take the box that is placed high up on a shelf but… It
seems like she can't reach it.
[Lilia-san, would you like me to take it?]
[Eh? Ah, you're right… I'm sorry, may I ask you to do that?]
[Yes.]
I'm taller than Lilia-san, so I suggested that because I thought I should
be able to reach it. Lilia-san then asks for my help with a slightly
apologetic look on her face.
[…Unnn? Arehh?]
[Is there a problem?]
[No, I think it's stuck on something… If I put some strength, I should be
able to…]
I guess things are pretty squeezed in over there, as when I pulled the
box that Lilia-san was aiming for, it only moved for a bit.
But when I pulled with some force, I was able to move it a little bit, so
holding the box with both hands, I tried pulling it again.
It's a little hard to use my strength to pull something because I'm
standing on a high foothold but… If I just pull a bit more… wait, doesn't
it look like the stuff placed beside it were also pulled along with the
box… Isn't this bad?
The moment I think about that and try loosening the strength of my
grip, the box slipped out so quickly that I was wondering how come I
was struggling to pull it a few minutes ago, but I, who had managed to
pull the box away from the shelf, was just standing on tiptoes before
and ended up greatly losing my balance.
[Uwaaahhh!? Gehh, this box is heavy!?]
[Kaito-san!?]
I still somehow managed to regain my posture, but the box I pulled out
was much heavier than I had imagined, and my wobbly legs slipped off
the foothold.
The sight of the panicking Lilia-san rushing up to catch me as I fell
seemed like a slow motion, and with a loud crash, I fell.
[Ouch… Kaito-san!? Are you alright?]
[…Ah, yes, I'm alr…]
[ [ ! ? ] ]
I must have fallen from a fairly high spot, but thanks to Lilia-san
catching me, my body isn't in pain, and just as I was trying to reply to
Lilia-san, who was calling out to me with concern… I stiffened.
Catching me was just a spur of the moment, and it seems Lilia-san
couldn't catch me and also fell over… We ended up in a position where I
was covering Lilia-san, who was lying on her back, with me on top of
her, and Lilia-san's face was surprisingly close to mine.
[...]
[...]
Beautiful golden hair with a hint of elegance, blue eyes as beautiful as
sapphires… The blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty in front of my eyes is
the very same Lilia-san.
[…U- U- U- Ummm!? K- K- K- Kaito-san!?]
[ ! ? I- I'm sorry. I'll immediately mo—– Ehh?]
As I was unconsciously gazing at Lilia-san's beautiful face, I came to my
senses when she spoke to me, her face turning red, and so, I tried to
quickly move away from being on top of Lilia-san… but for some reason,
my body won't move.
I had a bad feeling about it, so when I moved my head and turned
around… There were several items that must have fallen off the shelves
and they were now stacked on top of each other, and underneath that
pile of items were my feet.
[…Lilia-san… Errr… I can't move.]
[Eeeehhhh!?]
[It's just that there were things that fell on my feet…]
[Eh?… I- Indeed… Or rather, even my feet are also…]
Fortunately, there seemed to be some gaps in between and my feet
weren't crushed beneath those stacks of items, but there seemed to be
something heavy weighing above my knees, and not only could I not
move my body at all, even when I tried pulling my legs out, but they
also seem to be stuck on something and I couldn't pull them out.
It seems that is also the case for Lilia-san, as she now has a pale
expression on her face.
[…Lilia-san, ummm, it's so heavy I can't move my legs even if I put all
my strength into it… What is that?]
[It's a large bathtub-shaped magic tool. It's quite old, so I thought of
disposing it…]
[Why do you keep such a heavy thing so high up above a shelf…]
[Almost all of them were just randomly put away… After this, I'll sternly
tell them off about this.]
I see, I'm not good at Body Strengthening Magic, so I haven't thought of
it that way, but for people who can use Body Strengthening Magic well,
that means it's easy for them to lift something this heavy… Wait, if that's
the case!
[Then, Lilia-san, can't you lift it up with your feet?]
[…It's possible but… in this position, I might end up kicking Kaito-san's
leg… and injure you.]
[I don't really mind.]
[Well, I do mind! That's no good! I can't do that!]
In our position, my legs are crossed over Lilia-san's legs, and it's true
that if Lilia-san were to use her strength in this situation, she might
hurt me but… I suggested that it's fine for me since we can get out of
here, but Lilia-san vigorously shook her head.
Well, considering the gentle Lilia-san's character, she won't use any
means that might hurt me… but then, what should we do?
[…Ummm, Lilia-san. That fall just now should have made quite a loud
sound, right?]
[…This warehouse is under a powerful Barrier Magic, so no sound can
leak out.]
[…Errr, what should we do then?]
[…After an hour pass, Luna will probably look for us… so we'll just have
to wait for that.]
[An hour!?]
Staying in this position for an hour!? T- That's bad.
Because currently, I'm lifting my upper body with my arms so that I
don't have to weigh on top of Lilia-san, and to put it simply, it's like
being in a position where I'm about to start doing pushups.
No, I might be a harsher position instead since I can't fully move
everything down my knees… And for me to be in this state for an hour!?
Rather than it being difficult, that's definitely impossible!
To be frank, I'm one of the people with the lowest muscle strength in
my generation, and even now, my two arms are already trembling.
To endure being in this situation for an hour, that's definitely reaching
the limits of being a self-challenge… After this, I may not be able to lift
my arm tomorrow.
[…Kaito-san. Please relax yourself.]
[…Eh?]
[That position must be quite painful, isn't it? Please, just lean on me.]
[E- Errr, but…]
Seeing me looking like I'm in pain, Lilia-san suggests that I relax my
arms and lean on her.
[It's okay. Even if I've already quit the Knight Order, I'm still pretty
sturdy, so carrying a person of Kaito-san's weight feels nothing to me.]
[No, but that would be too close…]
[Please don't say it! I'm trying not to think about it, you know!?]
[I- I'm sorry.]
Reacting to my words, Lilia-san shouted while her face turned bright
red.
T- That reaction of her makes me strangely aware of it, or rather, it's
making me very nervous.
[…Errr, ummm… Is it alright?]
[…Yes.]
Even though I could only resent my uselessness, my arms were pretty
close to their limits, so I reaffirmed with Lilia-san, to which she gave me
a small nod while hiding her face.
Slowly, I relaxed my hands and brought them over Lilia-san.
Feeling the soft bulges touching my chest, my heart greatly jumped, and
at the same time, I smelled her gentle and reassuring scent.
Laying on Lilia-san's delicate body, it feels as if our bodies were
perfectly glued against each other, our arms, chest… and feeling Liliasan's body heat all over my body, I felt my face immediately turn boiling
red.
Lilia-san seemed to be embarrassed to, as she turned her face away
from me… turning her bright red ears towards me.
Dear Mom, Dad—— I was going to an appointment with Lilia-san
tomorrow, but after a series of unfortunate accidents—— A really
outrageous even occurred.